Densho Digital Repository - Ben Ohama Interview

Densho Digital Repository
JACL Philadelphia Oral History Collection
Title: Ben Ohama Interview
Narrator: Ben Ohama
Interviewer: Herbert J. Horikawa
Location: Medford, New Jersey
Date: August 27, 1994
Densho ID: ddr-phljacl-1-5-7

<Begin Segment 7>

HH: However, in terms of realities, would you say that there were moments of racial prejudice that you experienced during the time you were in this area?

BO: The racial prejudice that I experienced in this area? Yes, definitely, I experienced a lot of prejudice in this area.

HH: In what form did it take?

BO: In what form? Well, basically, I think when I was in the, as president of the Japanese American Citizens League, there was a lot of pressure put on me at the time when we were trying to pass the citizenship for our parents. And the thing was, well, we had the fight at the fellowship commission meeting, this human relations meeting, and so it was the battle, not straight racial, but still again, I think we were the brunt of it. I have experienced in work, but I've had more benefits from it than the negative, the fact that I was a Japanese American dental technician, people looked up to me as one who would do good work, they looked up to me as one who was honest, and I just capitalized on it, I thought it was great. And my children the same thing, that you're gonna experience this, and you're gonna have to be able to, live above it. And that has been my practice right through. So prejudices have been a stepping stone for me. I do not like them, but I used it.

HH: Can you compare and contrast your aspirations as they were prior to World War II, and after World War II? In other words, maybe there hasn't been a shift. Had you lived in California all this time, maybe your aspiration would have been the same, or they took a shift because you moved to Philadelphia? But can you compare and contrast your aspirations in the two situations?

BO: Yeah. As far as my aspirations from the time before the evacuation 'til the time after the evacuation, I would say they are different. Basically because if I stayed in California, our family had decided that we would work together until each of us got established. And I think my choice would have been farming. I think I would have had a vineyard. In fact, the vineyard that we lost at the time of evacuation probably would have been mine, and I would have helped the others find whatever they wanted in life. And now I'm a retired dental technician and I enjoyed my time as the dental technician. So I would say definitely the plans were different, but life is still the same. I would have enjoyed both.